PBBOR: Records continue for homes sold, average price

Number of available homes fall to levels not seen since 2014

The Permian Basin Board of Realtors reports 172 homes were sold in November -- the most in the second to last month during the 10 years the PBBOR has kept records.

The housing market in Midland County continues to set monthly records and possibly is a warning to community leaders that inventory could become an issue.

The Permian Basin Board of Realtors reports 172 homes were sold in November -- the most in the second to last month during the 10 years the PBBOR has kept records. Also, new standards were set for average sold price ($302,411) and average median price ($260,000), beating marks established in November 2014.

The total number of houses on the market inside Midland County fell to 314 (down from 345 in October and from a 2017 high of 459 in June), according to PBBOR. The 314 houses available are the fewest since July 2014 (281).

“Although inventory has dropped substantially, we see this as a fair indicator that our market remains strong and is looking to finish 2017 on the same trends we have seen all year,” said Carroll Nall, MLS/Member Services director for the PBBOR. “Current December numbers would seem to support that as we are already reporting over 134 homes sold in Midland County through (Tuesday).”

Inventory has not fallen to the record lows of March 2012 when there were as few as 148 residential properties listed in the MLS, Nall said. However, the Texas A&M Real Estate Center in its Midland County housing report for November said currently there is 1.7 months of inventory inside the county. Realtors have previously told the Reporter-Telegram a balanced market has six to eight months of inventory.

The Reporter-Telegram has seen local Realtors posting requests for interested sellers because they have buyers and there isn’t inventory in certain price ranges.

The days a home stayed on the market fell to 36 days – a low for 2017. Before this year, the lowest DOM was 29 days in November 2015.

Nall said that the banner year for residential real estate in Midland County continued. The PBBOR reports that 2017 will set a new record for homes sold (2,260 through November) and possibly will set new marks for average sold price ($293,735) and median sold price ($254,818).

In November, the most homes sold in any price range were the 35 in the $300,000 to $399,999 range. There were 73 homes sold for $300,000 or more, including two that sold for more than $1 million. A home that sold for between $1.5 million and $1.999 million was on the market for four days, according to the PBBOR.

The PBBOR also reports there were $52.014 million in total homes sold in Midland County in November.